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The newly constructed Brookwood 1914-1918 Memorial to the Missing was inaugurated by HRH The Princess Royal, President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), on 9 June 2026.
This memorial replaces an earlier monument at Brookwood Military Cemetery honouring some of the service personnel who died in the UK and Ireland during WWI, but whose graves were never formally found. Ongoing research by the ‘In from the Cold’ project and the CWGC Commemorations team has now identified the final resting places of 250 of those recorded on the original monument, as well as bringing to light the names of more casualties still lacking official commemoration. Many of these individuals served overseas but returned home from the conflict with permanent damage to their health, so, when they later died, they would be buried by their families with no reference to their war service. With this memorial, the CWGC gives them an official point of commemoration. The Brookwood 1914-1918 Memorial is currently engraved with the names of some 400 personnel, but has space for up to 1,200 names in total, so that any additional casualties identified during future research can be added.
The Memorial was designed by Studio Wignall & Moore, with landscape design from Tom Stuart-Smith, and is shaped around the themes of sky, stone, and landscape: 31 inscribed Portland stone stelae are arranged in a subtle celestial formation inspired by the night sky above Brookwood Cemetery as the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, while benches around the site are aligned with the winter sunlight on Armistice Day. Flowers and trees have been planted around the memorial to encourage biodiversity and ensure this remains a peaceful, living setting for generations to come.
Text: Amy Brunskill / Image: CWGC
